We decided to go away from a coil spring bed and try an all foam gel-infused bed. Originally went with a Sealy Optimum Aster which was really hard and never softened up…switched to the Sealy Optimum Cava with 2" gel infused memory foam top but we find it so uncomfortable and both beds are hot although they advertise they should keep a more comfortable temp than regular beds. I really wish we would have found this site prior to making the original purchase but as it is we have one last chance to switch beds. We were considering the Kingsdown Holiday (eurotop with a latex comfort layer), Kingsdown Bennet (non-pillow top/tight top - memory foam/soy base), or Simmons Beautyrest Heatherdale (non-pillow-top/tight top - memoryfoam/soybase) which is similar to the Kingsdown Bennet. Can anyone offer any advice on these beds since we are limited to picking a “brand” from Sleep Country? We both have lower back issues, are between 150 and 190 pounds, and require something soft enough not to cause pressure points but also support our back. We both sleep on our sides and stomache…although trying to train to sleep on our side or back. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi Nash6655,
Unfortunately you are in a difficult position of having to make an exchange from a chain store that has very little in the way of good quality and value mattresses. Post #66 here and the posts it links to will be well worth reading and will give you some ideas about how you may be able to make the best of a bad situation.
The goal is either to exchange for a mattress that is suitable for your needs and preferences and uses high quality materials in the comfort layers (which are generally the weak link of a mattress) or to exchange for a very firm mattress which uses the least possible amount of lower quality materials in the upuer layers and then add your own comfort layer in the form of a topper on top of this. The first option may not be possible at Sleep Country (and they may not be able or even willing to disclose the quality of the materials in their mattresses) so the odds are good that the second option (very firm mattress with the least possible amount of questionable materials and then adding a topper) may be the best way to go. This way you can control the quality of the materials that are used in the upper layers of your sleeping system and the topper will not only extend the life of any lower quality materials below it but can also be replaced if it softens or degrades faster than the rest of the mattress without having to replace the entire mattress.
Phoenix
Thank you Phoenix!
I requested the details from Sleep Country for the mattress we were thinking of switiching to…then read the articles attached to the links you provided. It seems I might be back to the drawing board with my exchange…
Here are the specs I received from head office:
Kinsdown Duet Holiday (eurotop):
Quilted material is 1.5" of high density foam (I do not have the specific density, sorry)
Foam layers ½" gel visco foam
½" 3 zoned latex
2.5" racetrack foam + a flexatron support pad
Kingsdown Duet Bennett (tight top):
Same quilted layers as the holiday.
Foam layers ½" gel visco foam
Âľ" solid plush foam
There is one other mattress in the Kingsdown Duet line called the Cline which is a “Firm”…unfortunately I didnt request the specs on that mattress as we hadn’t considered it at all due to the fact we are side and stomach sleepers and were scared to go firm after our bad experience on the Sealy Optimum foam beds causing pain. It may be fine for sleeping on your stomach so long as it didnt hurt our rib cages, but we were worried it was too firm for on our side.
Do you know what racetrack foam is? Also the Kingsdown Duets have foam all around the outside of the bed as well as between the two sides for extra motion separation…do you consider this a drawback? None of the Simmons beds have that feature. Our only options in the Simmons line is a Firm with a pillowtop, or a soft/med like the Bennett, or the plush eurotop which felt much softer than the Holiday which I am thinking is due to the Holiday having the layer of latex(although thin as it is) whereas the plush Simmons only has “posturixed latex” so only on the 1/3 of the bed. Hopefully ths makes sense. I feel like I am going around in circles. We have a replacement bed being delivered Saturday but I am still not certain which one it will be. The Kingsdown beds (whether it is to do with the foam down the centre) feel so much more solid and less jittery than the Simmons beds.
I should let you know the Simmons beds are the Simmons Connaisseur Heatherdale (tighttop) and the Simmons Buckingham (Firm - pillow top/comfort top). Teh two Simmons are pretty much a straight trade but the Kingsdown beds will cost between $200 - $500 additional with taxes). The Simmons beds have 1070 non-tempered pocket coils and the Kingsdown have between 1500 and 1600 tempered pocket coils.
Hi Nash6655,
Unfortunately the “so called” specs that you received are typical of most of the major manufacturers and don’t have the meaningful information you need to know the quality of the materials.
With latex you need the type of latex along with the blend, and with polyfoam and memory foam you would need the density of the layers to know the relative quality and durability of the materials. Specs that only say “HD” or “high density” or nothing at all about the specific density of each polyfoam or memory foam layer only gives the type of material and without the specific grade of that material are mostly useless.
So without this … when you are dealing with “blind” choices (which unfortunately will be most of the choices at Sleep Country) … the goal becomes to eliminate or at least reduce as much as possible any “questionable” material such as polyfoam or memory foam with “unknown” densities. This generally means choices that are much firmer and that use thinner comfort layers so that they are more suitable as a “transition” layer and for adding your own comfort layer in the form of a topper where you can control the quality of the materials you use in the all important comfort layers of the mattress. Without this approach you would be exchanging for a mattress where there was no way to identify the weak links of the mattress or to make any meaningful comparisons about durability or value.
I’m not even sure that the information you received includes all the layers in the mattress. The Kinsdown Duet Holiday (eurotop) describes 2.5" of foam (1/2" of this is latex which is a probably a good quality material but they don’t provide the type or blend of the latex and 1.5" of this is the polyfoam used in the quilting) which may not include the foam in the Eurotop itself. The Kingsdown Duet Bennett (tight top) lists 2 3/4" of foam materials which is thicker than the Eurotop which is not the norm. The 2.5" “racetrack” is not an actual layer on top of the innerspring but a polyfoam surround that is around the the innerspring to provide firmer edges. The height of all the foam layers along with the height of the innerspring and the insulator materials over the innerspring (the flexatron support pad) should add up to the height of the mattress itself. If it doesn’t … there are layers missing in the description and I suspect there are some missing layers here.
As an aside as well … your salesperson should be doing all the work of tracking down the information you need once they know what you are looking for and this shouldn’t be up to you. Unfortunately, in far too many cases when you are dealing with chain stores or major brand mattresses, the customers themselves end up having to do the work and research that should be the responsibility of the salesperson. In many cases this also leads to the frustration of dead ends where the information you need isn’t even available or they aren’t willing to provide it so they can prevent the very type of comparisons that you are hoping to make.
Phoenix